24 BBC WILDLIFE December 2021
T
he term ‘a murder of crows’
probably derives from 15th-century
peasants’ fears that these sinister-
looking birds, with dark feathers
and jet-black eyes, were witches in
disguise or messengers of the Devil.
They descended onto battlefields to pick at
the fallen and, with their alleged prophetic
powers, they appeared on roofs to portend
that someone inside would soon die. Their
other collective nouns include ‘mob’, ‘parcel’
and ‘horde’. Adam Jacot de BoinodCOLLECTIVE
NOUNS
A murder
of crows
K
oalas are in freefall, with possibly
as few as 32,000 remaining in the
wild, according to figures released
by the Australian Koala Foundation,
which show that the country has lost
nearly a third of its koala population
over the last three years.
As the climate crisis intensifies in
Australia, koalas are under increasing
pressure from bushfires, heat waves and
a lack of available drinking water. The
destruction of koala habitat is also a major
factor in their decline.
“Over the past few years, we have seen
huge land clearance, particularly across
New South Wales and South-East
Queensland, for farming, housing
development and mining,” says
Deborah Tabart, chair of the
Australian Koala Foundation.
The foundation is calling
for urgent action to stop land
clearing in prime koala habitat
and for a Koala Protection Act.
Simon BirchNumbers of Australia’s
iconic marsupial fall
by a third
Koalas
in crisis
WHAT’S IN A NAME?KOALA^(CAPTIVE):DONARNOLD/GETTY;^CROWS:^JOSÉMANUEL^ GELPI^DÍAZ/ALAMY“Land clearing is lethal to
koala populations,” says
Deborah Tabart (right),
chair of the Australian
Koala Foundation.Ravens are a
member of the
crow family